Down here in Texas, we love our Tex Mex foods like tamales, enchiladas, and a staple for Tex Mex is refried beans. This is how to make refried beans the slow way. This post contains affiliate links.

If you’re looking for a quick way to make refried beans in just a few minutes, go grab this healthier version of refried beans made in the Instant Pot. Or, if you’re really in a hurry, this refried beans recipe is done in the microwave with precooked canned pinto beans.
I have never really liked canned refried beans. It reminds me of dog food. That whole “slurp” as it comes out of the can. Yuck! I think I was spoiled by my mom. She is very good at cooking refried beans.
Table of Contents
What do you need to make stove top refried beans?
You’ll need:
- a bag of dried pinto beans
- water
- garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- bacon grease
- butter

A word about bacon grease
I know it’s not the healthiest thing to keep around, but it flavors beans like nothing else. I like to make my bacon in the oven, and then I spoon the bacon grease from the cookie sheet it in a ziplock bag. Then, I flatten the ziplock bag in the freezer, so it freezes flat.
When it’s time to use it for beans, I just break a small piece off and toss in the pot.
If you don’t have bacon grease, you can toss a slice of uncooked bacon in the pot with the cooking pinto beans, and it will give the same flavor.
How do you make stove top refried beans?
Wash the beans thoroughly in a colander. Make sure to pick out any rocks or bad beans.

Place the beans in a large bowl and add 6-8 cups of water and let them soak overnight. I like to put them on to soak right before I go to bed for the night.
If you soak your beans overnight, the cooking time will be about an hour to an hour an half. If you don’t soak, they will take 2-3 hours to cook.
Rinse the beans one more time after they’ve soaked and then place them in a dutch oven with about 10 cups of water with the salt and pepper.
Set the fire to high until it reaches a rolling boil. Then, turn down to medium high.
Make sure you keep a watch on them because the water can go fast, and you end up with burned beans.
When you turn the fire down, now you can add the garlic powder and the bacon grease.
Cook the beans for about 30-45 minutes, keep watch on the water. You might need to add an additional cup of water if it gets too low.
Then, turn the fire to medium low and let them cook for an additional 30 minutes or so. This is usually when I start making the rest of dinner like tacos, enchiladas, etc.
When are the beans done?
When the liquid is thicker and looks like mud, you know the beans are done. Test a bean to make sure it’s tender before turning off the fire.
If the beans are tender, you can turn off the fire and throw in half a stick of butter and let it melt.
DO NOT REMOVE THE JUICES. It might look like there’s too much juice, but as it cools the juices thicken and the beans suck that juice up so fast that they’ll end up too thick when you mash them.
When the butter has completely melted, give them a good stir and then use a potato masher to mash all the beans into refried beans. I mash them until there are no whole beans left, but there is still a lot of texture to the beans.
If you like a smoother texture, I also like to use an emersion blender to do this process a lot faster.
What else can you do with pinto beans?
Another option is to not smash the beans and make a completely different dish. You can keep them whole and cook and cut up sausage links and add them to the beans and serve them over rice, and that is a delicious meal, too.
Recipes to go with Refried Beans
- Mom’s Cheese & Onion Enchiladas
- Cheesy TexMex Enchiladas
- The EASIEST Chicken Enchiladas
- Tex Mex Tamale Casserole
- Rotisserie Chicken Tamales in the Instant Pot
- How to Cook Frozen Tamales in an Instant Pot

Stove Top Refried Beans
Ingredients
- 16 oz bag of dried pinto beans
- 10 cups water
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon bacon grease
- 1/4 cup butter
Instructions
Wash the beans thoroughly in a colander. Make sure to pick out any rocks or bad beans.
Place the beans in a large bowl and add 6-8 cups of water and let them soak overnight. I like to put them on to soak right before I go to bed for the night.
If you soak your beans overnight, the cooking time will be about an hour to an hour an half. If you don't soak, they will take 2-3 hours to cook.
Rinse the beans one more time after they've soaked and then place them in a dutch oven with about 10 cups of water with the salt and pepper.
Set the fire to high until it reaches a rolling boil. Then, turn down to medium high.
Make sure you keep a watch on them because the water can go fast, and you end up with burned beans.
When you turn the fire down, now you can add the garlic powder and the bacon grease.
Cook the beans for about 30-45 minutes, keep watch on the water.
Then, turn the fire to medium low and let them cook for an additional 30 minutes or so.
When the liquid is thicker and looks like mud, you know the beans are done. Test a bean to make sure it's tender before turning off the fire.
Add a half a stick of butter and let it melt.
DO NOT REMOVE THE JUICES.
When the butter has completely melted, give them a good stir and then use a potato masher to mash all the beans into refried beans.
If you like a smoother texture, use an emersion blender to do this process a lot faster.
7 comments
Hi Stephanie! Found you at the Sugar Bee Crafts blog hop 🙂 I’ve always wanted to make refried beans. I’ll have to give this a try!
Thanks for posting!
Kaitlin @ Life’s Little Mischiefs
I have to say, I have always wondered how to make these! Thanks for sharing! Thanks for linking up to Give Me The Goods Monday! We love having you party with us! Jenna @ Rain on a Tin Roof
Refried beans, yum! I’ve been making these for a long time, but I always like to see how other people do it. I pinned this!
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I live in New York and we are clueless about refried beans thanks for enlightening me. It actually looks pretty simple to make. Welcome to foodie friday. Hope to see more of you.
Yummy! Love those refried beans!! The spicier the better for me.
Thanks for sharing!
Stacey of Embracing Change
oh wow! The perfect addition to any taco! Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friday
We love refried beans, but I’ve never attempted to make them myself. I’ll have to give these a try. They look so simple, but I bet the flavor is amazing!